Australian Animal Facts

Australian Animal Facts

Only 5% of their communication involves barking – the rest is growling (65%) and howling (30%).

Fraser Island is thought home to the “purest” strain of dingos and most closely related to the originals.

Dingos have a prominent role in the culture of aboriginal Australians, and have been depicted on rock carvings and cave paintings dating as far back as 4,000 years ago.

Largest terrestrial predator in Australia.

Greater Bilby

Like koalas, bilbies don’t need to drink water – they get all of their moisture from the food they eat.

National Bilby Day is held in Australia on the second Sunday in September to raise funds for conservation.

Echidna

The oldest surviving mammal on the planet

Platypus

The platypus has 40,000 electroreceptors on its bill that allow it to find food, as folds of skin cover their eyes and ears to prevent water from entering, and the nostrils close with a watertight seal when they dive.

When European settlers discovered the Platypus, it was so baffling they thought it was a hoax!

Crocodiles

Ancient form of life with fossils from as far back as 200 million years ago!

Females are usually continuously pregnant with the exception of the day their joeys are born.

Males can leap 8 to 9 metres long and 2 to 3 metres high in one leap.

Kangaroos are adept swimmers, and often flee into waterways if threatened by predators.

Kangaroos legs cannot move independently of one another, so they must hop everywhere.

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

A study found that cockatoos are capable of synchronizing movement to a musical beat

The cockatoo has evolved a defence to protect against predator attacks while feeding on the ground. Whenever a flock is on the ground, there is at least one high up in a tree keeping watch. This habit was cause for the term Cocky to enter Australian slang meaning: a person keeping guard for sudden police raids on illegal gambling gatherings.

Koala

Closest living relative is the wombat.

Sleep up to 20 hours a day.

The koala has one of the smallest brains in proportion to body weight of any mammal.

Laughing Kookaburra

The Kookaburra’s early dawn and dusk cackling chorus earned it the nickname “bushman’s clock”

One of the most famous Australian melodies is sung about the Kookaburra

Cassowary

Cassowaries are very shy, but when provoked, they are capable of inflicting injuries, occasionally fatal, to dogs and people.

The Cassowary plays a key role in rainforest revegetation, passing seeds from the fruit that they eat, unharmed, in their dung, thus dispersing the seeds over large areas and in some cases germinating the seeds for future growth.

Cassowary eggs are incubated by the male for about 50 days, who alone guards and then raises the chicks.

Tree Kangaroo

Expert leapers that can jump to the ground from 18 metres or more without being hurt.

Common Wombat

Female wombats have a backwards-facing pouch so that dirt does not gather in it or over its young while she is digging her burrows.

Wombats teeth grow continuously to accommodate the wear of their fibrous diet of grasses, herbs, bark and roots.